Tae Kwon Do or Tae Kwon Don't?

Ever wonder if you could be a master of the dark martial arts? Well, wonder no longer as the newest fitness class in town has you covered. Complete with scenes from the karate kid and accidental slapping of the instructor, this class was quite eventful.

Courtesy of PicMonkey

How we handle vinegar in Chem 113.
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So let me paint the picture of this glorious experience. It 6 pm on a Thursday and I had just finished a 4 hour chem lab. To anyone else who has/had CHEM 111 or 113, you understand the pain, the deep suffering of my least favorite 4 hours of the week. I told my partner that we better rush these experiments because Tae Kwon Do is way more mportant than mixing some drops of acids so strong that you have to wear safety glasses. (Side note: it was literally vinegar, and we were dressed like it was going to kill us any second)

The Tae Kwon Do class started with running drills across the room.  They were all hops but you would point you legs a different direction during each jump. Let me tell you, I don't have the "hops" so I looked for like a flailing rabbit. The newbies and I shared many laughs at our failure.

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A key thing about Tae Kwon Do is the Kiai (気合). It is a sound, more of a shout, made each time you execute a move. Each time you do a new hopping set, you better say a kiai or else you have to do 10 push ups. Honestly, I could barely understand the teacher of the class when he yelled this. It sounded kind of like "KEY-OP" spoken extremely fast. By the end, we were all just saying "IKEA." Who knew dark marital arts and the most difficult brand of furniture to put together would be related. 

After the warm-up ups we moved into learning how to kick. There is a complex method people. As a new white belt myself I do not have the credibility to teach you the right way to kick, so head on over to this class if you're curious.

After becoming a kicking expert, we transitioned into circuit stations. This is where I felt just like the karate kid. We did ladder drills, steppers, kicking off the wall, and kicking combinations into the teacher's mits.  The music, the vibe, everything was a recreation of this clip. 

Finally we moved on to actually fighting. If you know me well enough, then you should know that this is contradictory to my normal day to day lifestyle  We paired up and learned how to defend ourselves from punches from our opponents. (TBH: It is kind of like a cheorgraphed dance of punching.) My friend and I spent the entire time laughing as we pretended to punch each other. Bad idea people... don't ever laugh in Tae Kwon Do.

The teacher saw the laughing as a great opportunity for me to fight him. (While the rest of class watched of course!)  I did my very best, but honestly Tae Kwon Do is not one of my natural talents. He almost accidentally punched me the first round because I forgot to move, I literally stood there smiling as his well defined arm moved straight towards my heart. (Stage fright?) The second time I tried to block him and I ended up slapping his arm. Yep...I would definitely survive a fight. 

Even if the teacher laughed at me, this was my favorite class so far. It was so far out of my element and so different than anything that I have ever done before, that I loved it. I thought about making Tae Kwon Do my new hobby and getting a black belt, but it more of a time commitment than I anticipated. (The average is 3-5 years!) 

Completely recommend this class! Check out this class's Facebook page here!  Let me know if you have ever been to Tae Kwon Do or if you secretly have a black belt.